Anna's 2nd day of school.
Watching for whales.
Fun times in driftwood forts.
I have to get some more pictures of the race from Stormy. Between Aaron and I, we only got 3 worthwhile pictures. Here we are getting ready for the kayaking leg. None of us had ever even been in a kayak like these before. We came in way behind everyone else in the kayaking leg. During a race is a tough way to learn. It was the steering with my feet that really threw me off. In the words of Johnny Cash, "we knew we would have to get tough or die."
Stormy and I coming in to the finish line.
Dee Dee pedaling along. She looks like she is out for a ride through the countryside.
Dee Dee pedaling along. She looks like she is out for a ride through the countryside.
Aaron ripping it up on the jet ski. It was equally fun watching and riding with him.
The little girls on the tube.
That is Cait in the middle, not sure if she is screaming or laughing.
Holding on for dear life.
Cody and Chance are to the right. Chance is the one laying down.
I waited and waited all year for September to come and now it has come and gone. This month has been amazing. Two trips to the San Juan Islands. A stay with friends at the lake house. Kids starting school.
Lets see first off, the kids went back to school, Cait to middle school, Cody 2nd, Chance 1st and Anna preschool. Colten is loving being the only one home while Anna is in preschool. I don't think he missed Anna at all. I, on the other hand, as usual struggled with whether or not to let her go to school. My sisters all convinced me it was good for Anna and that I should just let her. So I did and she is loving it. All of the kids like their teachers this year. Cait is in orchestra and learning to play the violin and comes home excited to share her new knowledge everyday. I hated middle school and she absolutely loves it. When I ask her how her day was, the usual reply is, "awesome". One day I asked her why it was awesome and she said, "I don't know it was just one of those days." I really hope it's not because of some boy. I don't think it is, but who knows.
Second, my sisters all came in and we did an adventure race together, It was a blast. Five miles of ocean kayaking, 18 miles of bicycling, and 6 miles of trekking. All that while orienteering to different checkpoints. We saw some of the most beautiful scenery, I have ever seen on this race. The name of our team was "bringing up the rear" amazingly we were not the last team to check in as we had fully anticipated being. None of us had properly trained for this like we should have, it was really more about the adventure as sisters and doing something we had never done before. I can't wait to do something like this again now. So many lessons learned and advantages to be gained next time. After the race we were able to spend some time with Misty and Noah, we had a great time at south beach, where we saw whales jumping out of the water! That was an amazing sight. We had got there just in time to see two pods of orcas swim by. The kids had fun playing in the drift wood forts, and I loved having my sister there to hang with.
Lastly, our friends invited us to their lake house. It was a great weekend. We went skiing, tubing, knee-boarding, and rode the jet ski. My kids loved every minute of it. The weather was wonderful. The house was big and very accommodating to all of the little kids. We had a total of 12 kids, 10 and under, running around. They were constantly on the move, I really enjoyed watching them all play together. They all got along really well. The food was amazingly delicious (and abundant) and the time with friends, very relaxing. It was the perfect end to summer and made me reminisce of my many summer childhood memories at the lake. We did some dutch oven cooking and when we pulled the dutch ovens off, we didn't make sure the coals were out. They smoldered all night and burned a hole in the ground. I know we had someone watching over us, because there is no reason they shouldn't have started a fire, especially with all the ample fuel nearby. It was actually a nice start to a Sunday morning, a reminder of the Lord's hand in our life. We really enjoyed so many blessings this month, quite the abundance.
Lets see first off, the kids went back to school, Cait to middle school, Cody 2nd, Chance 1st and Anna preschool. Colten is loving being the only one home while Anna is in preschool. I don't think he missed Anna at all. I, on the other hand, as usual struggled with whether or not to let her go to school. My sisters all convinced me it was good for Anna and that I should just let her. So I did and she is loving it. All of the kids like their teachers this year. Cait is in orchestra and learning to play the violin and comes home excited to share her new knowledge everyday. I hated middle school and she absolutely loves it. When I ask her how her day was, the usual reply is, "awesome". One day I asked her why it was awesome and she said, "I don't know it was just one of those days." I really hope it's not because of some boy. I don't think it is, but who knows.
Second, my sisters all came in and we did an adventure race together, It was a blast. Five miles of ocean kayaking, 18 miles of bicycling, and 6 miles of trekking. All that while orienteering to different checkpoints. We saw some of the most beautiful scenery, I have ever seen on this race. The name of our team was "bringing up the rear" amazingly we were not the last team to check in as we had fully anticipated being. None of us had properly trained for this like we should have, it was really more about the adventure as sisters and doing something we had never done before. I can't wait to do something like this again now. So many lessons learned and advantages to be gained next time. After the race we were able to spend some time with Misty and Noah, we had a great time at south beach, where we saw whales jumping out of the water! That was an amazing sight. We had got there just in time to see two pods of orcas swim by. The kids had fun playing in the drift wood forts, and I loved having my sister there to hang with.
Lastly, our friends invited us to their lake house. It was a great weekend. We went skiing, tubing, knee-boarding, and rode the jet ski. My kids loved every minute of it. The weather was wonderful. The house was big and very accommodating to all of the little kids. We had a total of 12 kids, 10 and under, running around. They were constantly on the move, I really enjoyed watching them all play together. They all got along really well. The food was amazingly delicious (and abundant) and the time with friends, very relaxing. It was the perfect end to summer and made me reminisce of my many summer childhood memories at the lake. We did some dutch oven cooking and when we pulled the dutch ovens off, we didn't make sure the coals were out. They smoldered all night and burned a hole in the ground. I know we had someone watching over us, because there is no reason they shouldn't have started a fire, especially with all the ample fuel nearby. It was actually a nice start to a Sunday morning, a reminder of the Lord's hand in our life. We really enjoyed so many blessings this month, quite the abundance.
